Preview Time: Death Knights

Preview time: Death Knights

You were once mortal, with a bright future ahead of you. Full of hope and promise, you were going to be famous, powerful. You were going to change the world. And then disaster. That which made life worth living was taken from you, and your joy in life turned to bitter ashes. You swore revenge, revenge on an unfeeling and unjust universe. You didn’t expect anyone to listen.

Trapped forever in the Abyss, the void outside creation, are the Nihilim, primal entities of void and destruction that seek always to destroy the material world, to return the universe to the state of nothingness from whence it sprang. Unable to affect the material world, they empowered the Nex, corrupted servants of creation, to act on their behalf and charged their servants with amassing enough power to sunder creation itself. The Nex found you.

Give us your name, they said. Forsake life, forsake creation, forsake destiny. Give us your name, and we will give you power beyond your wildest imaginings. Death will have no power over you, and you will serve us through destruction. But know this, betray us and you will never have existed.

Of course you accepted. How could you not?

Preview time: Blood Spilled Upon Crystals

The Planetary Soldiers

The origins of the planetary soldiers, the legendary female warriors with the blessings of the planets, are shrouded in mystery. As long as the Moon queendom has existed, the planetary warriors have used their great power to protect the people of the Moon. Nor is it known how the planets select their chosen warriors, for the planetary soldiers can be any sort of woman you might imagine - timid, aggressive, conciliatory, passionate, vivacious, or focused. The only thing they can be said to have in common is their unshakeable dedication and iron strength of will.

It is that strength of will that allows them to wield the power of their planetary auspices, power great enough to shape entire worlds and even change the fabric of reality itself. It takes great determination to wield such a power and not be destroyed by it. Every planetary soldier knows that she may be forced to use her power to the utmost, at the cost of her life. Such great power can only come at great cost, and it is only through their sacrifice that the people of the Moon can be kept safe.

In recognition of the all-consuming nature of the power they have been given, the planetary warriors customarily take the names of their mother planets, leaving their old identity behind to follow their calling.

The Elemental Captains

The Elemental Captains are the four legendary protectors of Elysium’s monarch and heir. Earth’s peace is a fragile one, and Elysium’s rulers have been all too aware of the fact that a knife in the dark could easily undo everything they had worked so hard to achieve.  Swordsmen of unsurpassed skill, each of the Elemental Captains is chosen by King Rhadamanthus himself. There is a friendly rivalry among the four as to which of them is the best, but their loyalty to each other runs deep.

As with Princess Selene and the Near Guardians of the Moon queendom, the Elemental Captains are Endymion’s constant companions. More importantly, they are close enough in age to be real friends to the young prince, whom they regard almost as a younger brother.

With the tensions over the Moon queendom, that relationship has been more troubled of late, though they are still on better terms with their Prince than the King. Determined to rebel against what he sees as his father’s xenophobia, Prince Endymion has made the Elemental Captains’ duty all the harder. Since coming of age, he has not hesitated to speak out publicly against King Rhadamanthus’ isolationist policies. And he takes it as a keen betrayal that the Elemental Captains themselves are part of the isolationist faction.

Well aware of the need for guardians, Endymion has endeavored to stay on good terms with his friends by avoiding all talk of politics together. However, determined not to be docile in the face of opposition, he has also taken to sneaking off to visit the Moon queendom as often as he is able, in open defiance of his father’s edict.

Joshua Roby will be my co-creator for the SEKKRIT PRINCESS PROJECT - he'll be doing writing and I'll be doing art.

To everyone finding their way here through the hatesplosion on facebook

The fact that you mistook my SexyTime Adventures illustrations for serious art is, I guess, proof of concept. Thanks for not bothering to read that those illustrations, and the game they were done for, are satire and are making fun of the kind of art you're trying so hard to defend.

No love,

Me.

As promised, preview sketches for Blood Spilled Upon Crystals, my game about the fall of the Silver Imperium.

Because I can, and because I don't want to mess with licensing, I'm taking a lot of liberties. I'm changing the names and designs to fit a Greeks versus Romans/Etruscans theme - with the Moon queendom as Greek-inspired and the people of Earth as a mishmash of Romans and Etruscans. The advantage of doing it this way is that I have the opportunity to be inclusive in my artwork while still providing references to the original characters. Also, I've had a ton of fun filling in all the holes in the backstory of the Earth kingdoms and the Silver Imperium! My hope is that it will feel fresh, but still have that TRAGIC SILVER IMPERIUM VIBE, yannow?

I was originally planning on doing the redesigns as all femme, cis, Japanese women - but it was pointed out to me (rightfully) that that's pretty crap. If I'm going to file off some serial numbers, why not do it all the way? Throw in some different body types and ethnicities? Because I can do that and have the redesign aspect still come across - it's just more challenging. And "it's haaaaaard" is a pretty shit reason to not be inclusive.

Above are sketches for Ares and Zeus. Ares is supposed to look Japanese, except I kind of failed.

(It's hard to find good reference on the internet that isn't porn, okay? Google "Japanese woman" and see what comes up. Just.... not at work.)